PA leader calls on EU to recognize 'Palestine'

Rami Hamdallah urges EU states to recognize "Palestine" in order to "save" the two-state solution.

Dalit Halevi, 21/02/17 05:44

Rami Hamdallah

Flash 90

Rami Hamdallah, the head of the Palestinian Authority (PA) government in Ramallah, on Monday urged all the European Union member states to recognize “Palestine”.

Hamdallah made the comments during a meeting with a delegation representing the Palestine Committee in the European Parliament.

“There is a greater need than in the past for all EU countries to recognize an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem,” he said, adding such a move would be an “act of support for the efforts of the Palestinian leadership to end the occupation and to save the two-state solution.”

During the meeting, reported the official PA news agency WAFA, Hamdallah presented to the delegation proof of alleged human rights violations committed by Israel against Palestinian Arabs, its “settlement expansion activities”, land confiscation and demolitions of homes and facilities, especially in Area C and in particular those financed by the European Union.

Hamdallah called on the EU countries to pressure Israel to stop building new communities in Judea and Samaria, stop its alleged confiscation of land and violations of international law and humanitarian law.

PA officials have repeatedly urged members of the EU to recognize “Palestine”. The last such call came earlier this month from chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat.

In recent years, several countries in Europe have recognized the state of “Palestine”, including Britain, Sweden, and Portugal.

In January, the PA inaugurated an embassy in the Vatican. Most of these moves are symbolic gestures and have little, if any, actual diplomatic effect.